HALIEUTICA, I. 589-608 



burdened by the pangs of birth ; the Red Mullet 

 gets its name Trigla from its triple brood " ; the 

 Scorpion again endures the pang of four labours ; ^ 

 the Carps alone bear five times ; " and the Oniscus <* 

 is the only fish, they say, whose breeding no one has 

 ever remarked, but that is still a mystery among 

 men. 



When in spring the oviparous fishes are full of roe, 

 some of them remain quietly in their homes, each 

 tribe in its own place ; but many gather together 

 and pursue a common path to the Euxine Sea,* that 

 there they may bring forth their brood. For that 

 gulf is the sweetest of all the sea, watered as it is 

 by infinite rivers of abimdant water ; and it has soft 

 and sandy bays ; therein are goodly feeding-grounds 

 and waveless shores and cavemed rocks and silty 

 clefts and shady headlands and all that fish most 

 love ; but no fierce Sea-monster inhabits there nor 

 any deadly bane of the finny race nor any of 

 those which prey upon the gmaller fishes — no coiling 



^ Introd. p. Ixiv. 



* Black Sea. A. 598 a 30 eto-TrXeoi'tri 5' et's tov Hovtov did 

 re Trjy Tf)o<(>i)v {i] yap vo^r) xai xXei'uii' Kai ^eXriuv Sict to troTifiov, 

 (cot TO. drjpia di ra fieydXa eXciTTw* l|w yap 5eX0tyos Kai <pwKaivr]i 

 [Porpoise] ovdev i<mv iv ti^ JIovti^ Kai 6 Se\<pU fiiKpos' e|w 5' 

 evdvi TrpoeXffovTi fieydXoi), Sid re Stj Tr]v Tpo<pr)v elffirXiovffi Kai 

 did rbv TOKOV rbtrai ydp eiaiv (iriTTiSfLOi iVTiKTfiv Kai to iroTifioy 

 Kai TO yXvKVTfpov vdup eKTpeipei. rd Ki'tifiara. Cf. Ael. iv. 4, 

 ix. 59; Plut. Mor. 981 d ; Plin. Lx. 49 f. ; Arr. Pe^ripl. Eux. 

 Pont. c. viii. ; A. 567 b 15 ev ti^ TIovtu} ire pi tov QepawSovra 

 rorafjLhv oi TXeitrrot TiKTOViTty' yr/vtuos ydp 6 Toros Kai dXeeivot 

 Kol Ix^" '^'SaTa yXvKea; A. Meteor. 354 a 16 irXdovs ydp fU 

 TOV Efleicov peovffi voTaftol *cat ttjv Maiwrtc t) tijc iroXXaTrXautai' 

 Xw/Xf avTTJ^. 



263 



